N E W S L E T T E R , A U T U M N 2 0 1 2

I N T H I S I S S U E : A note from Ed 2

Policy Update 2

School Trip 3

Wembley Skype Session 4

Tamuka Launch 4

Sponsor a Child 5

Summer Camp, Nairobi 5

Rafiki Fabrix 6

Filming for the Future 7

P A G E 1

VISION AND MISSION VISION: Xavier Project aims to provide opportunities to refugees living in urban areas in Kenya and Uganda who are otherwise excluded from the means to live a fulfilled and dignified exis-tence so that they will be able to take back control of their lives and make a positive change whether to their new communities or to their country of origin. MISSION: The Xavier Project works to achieve its vision through a holistic approach to development. Xavier Project works in three areas: Education, Microfinance and Media. Through the provision of financial sponsorship and extra-curricula support and mentoring it seeks to offer a sustained and individually tai-lored education programme. As part of a commitment to sustain-able development Xavier Project’s Microfinance initiative offers financial and management support for the parents of student beneficiaries so that over time parents will be able to pay school fees. The Media platform is designed to give refugees a voice so that they can speak out about the realities of their lives in order to effect positive improvements.

NEWS ROUNDUP Welcome to the Xavier Project newsletter. In this edition you can find out all about what we have been getting up to over the sum-mer in Kenya and Uganda. Ed Page gives a succinct summary of Xavier Project’s activities in re-cent months in his note and there is input from other staff members as well as some of the volunteers who have been out to Africa to visit.

While the Olympics have been taking up many of the column inches in England, Xavier Project has not been left completely out of the Games loop. On page 5 you can read about our summer camp in Nairobi, the final day of which was Olympic themed. It didn’t stick to the Olympic Committee approved events though, and in-cluded blind-folded walking the plank!

We are involved in another sports related project as we have joined up with Soccer Without Boarders (SWB) in our role spearheading a new Grass-roots consortium which Edgar, head of the Kampala office, explains about on page 4.

Kampala was the scene for the launch of our new Tamuka Hub and Alex Kubana, the man in charge of the hub, tells us about the launch on page 4. A meeting about Tamuka was held with refu-gee business students, details on page 5. Students united across the world via Skype in June and you can read about the interactive session with Wembley High Tech-nology College on page 4. Francie Page looks back to school trips in England on page 3 and recounts the very different

experience of a Xavier Project school adventure in Uganda. Francie vividly describes villages the group passed as a sight she had only ever seen in films and on page 7 Harry Reid gives us a be-hind the scenes insight into shoot-ing a short film about some of the refugee success stories.

Once in front of a camera, Harry says the refugees could act more vulnerable and on page 2 we dis-cuss a policy update relating to qualification for Xavier Project support.

We also look forward in this edi-tion to January 2013 when we hope to expand our education programmes and aim to have 50 children in primary school in Uganda, and 30 in secondary school in Nairobi.

Ed working on strategies for 2012

Since the release of the last newsletter we have had a typically hectic time. We would certainly not have been able to cope with all the work without the gener-ous support of all the volunteers who have come and visited. In May we started work on the Tamuka Hub Resource cen-tre for refugees, which was officially launched on July 20th. This marks the real start of Tamuka, our media programme which we wrote about in our last edition. It is really exciting to see the SMS plat-form now being used by refugees both in Uganda and Kenya and as time goes on we will develop ways to interact with the messages and make the most of the mate-rial being offered by refugees all over Kampala and Nairobi. Regarding the education programme we have been very busy working with UNHCR on a research project to establish the situation for urban refugees with re-gard to education. We have been privi-leged to be asked to provide the literary review, write the research tools, and fi-nally compile all the data into a negotia-ble format. This has not been an easy chore, and in particular we must thank Jessica Ferguson and Julie Tippens for spending so much time on it The fabric business has gone from strength to strength mostly because of Sharon’s and Anna’s determination, but also as a result of mentoring from Harry Reid and David Wright, and your support in UK. Read on to find out more about milestones that the business has reached.

In Uganda we helped to initiate the 'Refugee Grass-roots Network' (RGN) for which Edgar is now generously doing most of the admini-stration. This is a collective which should give refugee run organisations a chance to share resources and experiences and form a unified voice for advocacy. Edgar writes about it later. We have immensely enjoyed the past few weeks of the extra-curricular camp in Nairobi, for which Rory Mellow’s organisational skills must be praised, and the revealing of the newly renovated Nairobi office, overseen by the unrelenting Tom Orchard. We are also now missing the presence of Ally Ferrans and his huge cameras- his creative imagination is second to none and watch this space for the launch of several videos which should help you to understand what Xavier Project is all about. Harry Reid, who helped Ally with the footage, gives us his impression of filming later in the newsletter. For Xavier Project a big date is January 2013, when we hope to expand our education pro-grammes in Uganda and Kenya. The target is to have 50 children in primary school in Uganda, and 30 in secondary school in Nai-robi. For this we will need support from all of you, whether moral or material, and we hope you can be part of our co-ordinated campaign to achieve this over the next few months. We are hoping to raise the funds for the Uganda children through fundraising activities, and for the Kenyan students we are asking you to directly sponsor children through four years of education. See page 5 for details.

A NOTE FROM ED P A G E 2

POLI

CY

UPD

ATE

Students will qualify for Xavier Project support based on merit and effort in the most open-minded sense, rather than vulnerability. The research we have carried out with UNHCR has encouraged us to refine our policy of admission to the education programme. When interviewed, some refugees seemed to overplay their vulnerability, and even aggravate their situation, to increase their chances of qualifying for support from NGOs. While it may seem initially unfair not to make vulnerability a key criterion for support, we have found that it is almost impossi-ble to compare how vulnerable refugees really are. This approach also gives extra incen-tive for students to do their best.

P A G E 3

A classic school trip in England would usually consist of a

Victorian museum, an inedible packed lunch, car sickness,

bored children dressed in home clothes and a dive of a

day. Only speaking on my behalf. But the 'school trip' we

went on scratched all those UK memories off the board,

the word adventure or even mission would be more ap-

propriate. We bundled about 40 children into a small

minibus, one which should (in a perfect Health and Safety

restricted world) only hold 16. Mostly sisters, brothers,

cousins and friends sat in gaps which I never knew ex-

isted, some even sitting on 'air' partly squidged between

too other smiley bus riders. We had a long snoozy ride to

Jinja. Presuming we were already there, most of us woke

up and were getting twitchy, but to find ourselves going into the bush for a further hour. This drive is one of the

most memorable journeys of my time in Africa. To describe it with giving it justice would be impossible. But the

tribes and villages we passed were sights I had only ever seen in films. It’s a kingdom in itself, I could pick up on

the tribal family importance as women sat around fires, babies ran about naked as nimphs, and the boys carried

wood for miles. We suddenly arrived at a crucial point, a big flood in the middle of the road, the bus driver

looked reluctant but as soon as he turned around and saw all the children’s (plus our) eager faces he pushed the

peddle and slipped his way to victory! With a great cheer we were on to the waterfalls! When we arrived it was

a great relief as children jumped out from every exit. The sight was incredible. A stretch of about 200m of water

from us to the other side, with rip roaring clouds of water tumbling 20 meters into the deep pool below. Framed

by tall green trees the Nile is nothing to play lightly with! The children stood around staring at this monster!

Suddenly nature seemed to have presented something spectacular.

After a good twenty minutes of staring, laughing, photo tak-

ing and paddling Ed decided (as it was the trend on his

school trips) that the swimming box had to be ticked, yet

again! If one can't swim at the source of the Nile, then what's

the point in swimming at all! The children followed Ed down

to a quiet pool just off the tip of the waterfall, around the cor-

ner to a safe cove which was collecting water. Looking back it

was still quite dodgy to let these 13 and under children who

couldn't swim, strip to their undies and enjoy the cold water. The current was strong and Ed acting as life-guard

was obligatory. For hours the noises and screams and laughs which came from the pool was so endearing. We

were all so pleased to get into the water after the stinky drive and hot weather. Suddenly the temperature of

Uganda didn't seem too unbearable, if only we could have swam in the Nile every day! We made our way slowly

back up to the minibus, the girls all taking a lot longer than the boys in changing, this seems to be a typical oc-

currence throughout the world! Stopping for refreshments on the way home everyone was so grateful for the

outing, even with soggy hair and clothes there were smiles on everyone's faces. We arrived back in Kampala, Ed

was relieved everyone was home safely and on the other hand the rest of us were wishing we didn't have to

leave. It was a great day out, and something that I, and the children will never forget.

A NOTE FROM ED SCHOOL TRIP Francie Page recounts tails of floods, falls

and frolicking

P A G E 4

WEMBLEY SKYPE SESSION

On Thursday June 21st we put the new Tamuka Hub to good use during our Skype session with Wembley High Technol-ogy College. This was the first time our new projector had been used, and we man-aged to project the Wembley students across the whole wall so that it really felt like they were in the room. For an hour the students shared details of their lives with each other and found out about what it means to be a student on the other side of the world.

Our students in Kam-pala were fascinated by the kind of music and sport that the Wembley kids were into, and the Wembley students asked some very inter-esting questions about the standards of educa-tion in Uganda. They were very shocked to hear that some Ugandan classrooms could have up to 100 students, with just one teacher! This project was part of the wider media pro-gramme, which aims to spread the word about the realities of the lives of urban refugees. In particular we are ex-

cited about the idea of students in UK and East Africa sharing their challenges, ideas, and dreams, because they will soon realise that they have a lot more in common than they ex-pected. Another element of the programme is the face-book group ‘Xavier Pro-ject Students Associa-tion’ which you are all welcome to join and get posting!

TAMUKA HUB LAUNCH! Tamuka Hub in Kampala, as we mentioned in our last newsletter, is aimed at being a centre where refugees can speak out and communicate with other refugees, at home or abroad, by sharing information and news. We are very pleased to anncounce that the Hub was launched on 20th July 2012 with an afternoon introduction. Mr Pecos was one of our speakers and gave a speech about how and why Tamuka was created. Fifty guests, including representatives from different NGOs such as UNHCR, the Pan African Development and Advocacy Programme (PADEAP) and RGN, joined us to celebrate the beginning of a new online chapter in the story of our refugees. Tamuka Hub will be running every day from Monday to Saturday starting at 8:00am and ending at 9:00pm. Tamuka will offer training in the use of social media.

REFUGEE GRASS-ROOTS

NETWORK Xavier Project has recently taken on the role of spear heading the Refugee Grass-roots Network (RGN), which is a consortium of five, community based, self-help organizations. The five organisations are Soccer Without Board-ers, People for Peace and Defence of Rights (PPDR), Xavier project, Young Africans for Integral Develop-ment (YARID) and Refugee Development Vision (RDV). The core objective of this consortium is to consoli-date efforts; to share experiences, knowledge and data as well as representing a unified voice for lob-bying and advocacy in a bid to devise ways of how best urban refugees in Kampala can be served.

Words by Edgar Kawooya Alex Kabana, head of the hub

P A G E 5

Tamuka means ‘speak out’ and on Monday 30th July we did just that. We met with a group of refugee business students in Kayole, Nairobi and gave a short presentation about Tamuka: what it is, why it exists and how it can be used by the students. The concept was received enthusiastically by the students who then participated in a question and answer session. The day was a valuable opportunity to promote Tamuka to a new audience.

BANK

STA

ND

ING

OR

DER

ABOUT

TAMUKA

NAIROBI SUMMER

CAMP Ten kids from four countries came to the X.P. office for five days of action packed activity. Each day involved a range of education, fun and sporting sessions from a recorder lesson, to drama sketches, to obstacle races.

The teenagers began the week a little shy and apprehensive which was under-standable as none had met before. By the end of the week many built up good friendships and really came out of their shells.

A highlight of the week was a morning volunteering at The Mother Theresa Centre caring for the disabled. Everyone got really involved helping feeding at lunch time, preparing the next meal and sorting laundry. It was a valu-able experience to understand how eve-ryone can help in their own community. The final day of the camp was Olympic themed. It began with a lesson on the history of the Games and a quiz. This was followed by a challenging sporting competition with a variety of noncon-ventional events such as skipping and blind folded walking the plank. After lunch the medal ceremony seemed like the perfect way to round up the week.

SPONSOR A CHILD

To send a refugee to secondary school in Kenya costs £40 per month. If you decide to sponsor a child we can guarantee that ALL the money you send will be spent on the school fees of that individual child. Therefore you are enabling a child to ac-cess formal education who definitely would not be in school if it was not for your support. If you would like to see a selection of profiles of children contact ed@xavierproject.co.uk or if you prefer us to choose the child you will sponsor you can print this standing order form and send it to the address on the back page. On the website you can find a Gift Aid and Standing Order Form combined on the homepage. Thank you for helping us discover the leaders of tomorrow.

SPEAKING OUT

P A G E 6

Sunshine and Straw...

P A G E 7

FILMING FOR THE

Behind the lens with HARRY REID

We spoke to those who had started to overcome all that had been thrown at them and to fight for a better future for themselves and their family. It wasn't quite as easy as I had expected and I soon found that once you get a camera out it is hard for the refugees not to slip into the comic relief – teary pre-senter type footage. Neverthe-less I met many amazing people. I think I started to understand what types of forces make peo-ple flee their own home and to

comprehend just how tough it is to start a new life from scratch in a foreign country. The film (not feature film! More 5-10 minute short) isn't fin-ished yet, and I have a bit of Kiswahili translating to do but as soon as it's out you'll all be the first to hear.

As a total novice in all things refu-gee related I arrived at the Xavier Project Headquarters in Nairobi not sure how useful I was going to be. I had however brought a new camera with me and after a few days I discussed with Ed the idea of filming something, and he liked the idea. All to often the image of refugees in the media is distorted or ma-nipulated to over-emphasise their helplessness in order to help agencies with their fundraising. However, whilst there are huge hardships and challenges faced by Refugees, they are often not inca-pacitated or unable to help them-selves. We set out to find the sto-ries of success in the refugee com-munity.

FUTURE

We are all very sad to be saying goodbye

to Frank Dunia, who has been our stal-

wart co-ordinator since 2010. Frank has

looked after the Congolese students in

Nairobi with utter dedication and he will

be missed by all, especially the students

who do not yet realise how impossible it

will be to replace him. Frank was always

aware of our students’ issues, challenges

and most importantly their potential - he

would not shy away from pushing them

to ensure they reached it.

At the same time as being a committed

co-ordinator in Nairobi, Frank was also

leading his four younger siblings

through the challenges that life threw at

them as orphan refugees from Congo.

However, despite continuous adversity

he was always light hearted and ap-

proached his work with energy and

creativity. It was Frank who was respon-

sible for spreading the Tamuka SMS pro-

gramme in Nairobi.

Frank and his four siblings are all being

resettled in USA and will be leaving Nai-

robi within a month. This is obviously

very exciting for them but Frank prom-

ises it is temporary and that he will be

back in East Africa when he has finished

his education. Let’s hope this is true, but

either way we hope to stay in touch with

his family’s progress in USA and who

knows they may open more doors for

Xavier Project over there!

Xavier Project bids

AU REVOIR

to

FRANK DUNIA

The spring edition of the newletter featured an article ‘Dyeing for a New Life’ in which we informed you that that Rafiki Fabrix was up and running. The profits from sale of the fabric will be invested in school fees. Now we can say happily that the business is well under way. Anna and Sharon have spent much time and care (in their masks and overalls!) overseeing the early stages of production. Now our wonderful patterns and colours, such as ‘sunshine’ and ‘straw’, can be seen opposite on page 6. So if you’re wondering what to get great aunt Mildred for her birthday, I’m sure she’d love a new cerise table cloth to brighten up the kitchen. And Christmas? Sorted.

…colouring the way to a brighter future

Sunshine and Straw...

Since the inception of the Xavier Project we have been running with the help of vol-unteers. We are extremely grateful for their help with the growth and development of the project’s programmes. Their new ideas, excite-ment , enthusiasm, and the assortment of different skills are invaluable to our project.

We need people from all walks of life that are as pas-sionate and committed as we are to make a difference in the lives of others.

There are a number of ways that you can get involved with Xavier Project if you would like to do so:

We are looking for individu-als with the initiative to present ideas and work on them , those who can work within the project to inspire and guide it in new direc-tions we also seek people with the courage to tackle intense experiences. If you are interested in coming for any length of time please email : edmundpage@hotmail.com

We are promoting a guest house in both Kampala and Nairobi for visitors. £9 per night includes full-board, clothes washing and hot running water.

For more information email: edmundpage@hotmail.com

CONTACT FOLLOW

GIVE DO

Post: Xavier Project Furzey Hill, Meysey Hampton Cirencester, Glos, GL7 5LD, UK. Email: info@xavierproject.co.uk

Website: You can find us on our website www.xavierproject.co.uk

Twitter: Follow us on twitter @XPTamuka for updates

Facebook: Like our Xavier Project page on Facebook

Just Giving:: www.justgiving.com/xavierproject Direct Transfer: Bank: Xavier Project Account Number: 00021387 Sort Code: 40-52-40

Cheques: Please send cheques to the above address made payable to ‘Xavier Project’

Fundraise: Whether it’s a lunch, sponsored run. Cake sale, or just spreading our word to family and friends, all are greatly appreci-ated. Volunteer: Please see below for details on how to volunteer.